In This Issue:

- Leading the News

- United States – Africa Relations

- North Africa

- East Africa

- West Africa

- Sub-Saharan Africa

- General Africa News

- Excerpt from Leading the News:

West Africa Ebola Outbreak:

On December 31st, the United Nations (U.N.) World Health Organization (WHO) reported a spike in Ebola infection rates in Liberia’s Eastern border region. The spike is attributed to close-knit, porous border communities and the difficulty of convincing response workers to travel to remote areas. Meanwhile, the number of Ebola cases is fluctuating in Guinea and decreasing in Liberia.

On December 31st, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) issued an updated fact sheet on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The latest fact sheet highlights efforts to control the transmission of Ebola in Sierra Leone, including by the Government of Sierra Leone implementing a temporary lockdown in the country’s Northern Province on December 25th. Additionally, the fact sheet emphasizes USAID’s efforts to open a new treatment center in Liberia’s Sinje town, as well as the opening of a U.S. Government-supported laboratory in Liberia.